Drumnadrochit gets ready for Hogmanay with the best lineup ever at the Drums and Rockets festival on Saturday 29 December 2007.

As part of the Fourth Loch Ness Hogmanay festival, "Drums and Rockets" has become a well-loved fixture in the local calendar with a less traditional slant on the midwinter festivities. This year's programme features a Nessie-led percussion procession leading to an amazing firework display by pyrotechnic geniuses BOOOM!, followed by a brilliant concert and ceilidh dance at Glen Urquhart Public Hall. The bill includes local fiddler Chris Meredith and accordionist Amy Thatcher (Franana, The Shee), who are both students in Newcastle University's traditional music course; the pipes, guitar, whistles and fiddle of rising stars Breabach (nominees for the Scottish Folk Band of the Year Award, Trad Music Awards 2007). As if that wasn't enough, headliners are the wonderful, fabulous, amazing Orkestra del Sol who are sure to keep everyone dancing till they drop, with their magical combination of "the swagger of a Balkan wedding band and the riotous energy of a Latin carnival" .

"This is the third year that we've run this festival as a warm up to the big bash on Hogmanay itself, " says promoter Jennie Macfie, "and this year our musical director Conrad Ivitsky Molleson* has really pulled out all the stops. We'd have been happy with any one of these bands - having all three on the same night means that this is definitely going to be the gig of the year! And we're organising workshops for all ages the day before (samba drumming, banner painting, lanternmaking), so visitors and local folk can have some hands-on fun getting involved in preparations for the event".

www.drumsandrockets.co.uk
www.glenurquhart.info
www.booom.org.uk

* formerly bass player with acid croft band Shooglenifty

Tickets on sale from online ticketing service The Booth - www.thebooth.co.uk
Funding assistance from the Scottish Arts Council, Highland Council, and Highland 2007 is gratefully acknowledged